MAIN TITLE: The Keeper of Fate
WARNINGS: See first chapter for warnings.
NOTES: Thanks to chaSing b0b, FlamePumpkin32, nickiR0x and Cynical Gummy Bear for reviewing this chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the PJO series. Rick Riordan does. Again, the poem is from Virgil's Aeneid.
Chapter 24: Karma Bites Me in the Butt
After what I assume is just a few seconds, I regain consciousness and sit up, only to wish I hadn't.
I don't remember if I ever told you this before, but I'm actually really afraid of water. Especially when it's churning all around me in a mad rush like a whirlpool. Which – of course – just so happens to be the case right now. The waves are crashing into the Oneiroi and washing them away, back into the gates. The strangest thing, though, is that the water doesn't touch me. It's like there's some sort of barrier around me or something. I'm completely dry.
It takes a few moments for the water to die down entirely. When it does, I notice several things: one, all the Oneiroi are gone and the gates have slammed shut again; two, I'm still alive; three, Clarisse is still alive and dry and is staggering to her feet; and four, there's a guy dressed in Bermuda shorts and holding a trident standing a few metres away from us.
All right. Bermuda shorts and a trident. Water sweeping away the Oneiroi but leaving Clarisse and me completely dry. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who this guy is. (Which is good, you know, for us non-genius folk.)
My throat is really sore and I feel kinda lightheaded, but I manage to stand up, bow, and croak, "Lord Poseidon."
Looking extremely unwilling, Clarisse follows my lead. "Lord Poseidon," she grumbles. I guess she's not a big fan of the Sea God, considering he's Percy's father.
I shuffle my feet uneasily, waiting for Poseidon to say something, but he doesn't. He glances at Clarisse for a few moments before shifting his gaze to me. I cough slightly, then venture, "So uh, thanks for saving us and stuff, Lord."
He inclines his head at me, but still doesn't say anything. He frowns at me, hopefully not in an 'I'm-trying-to-decide-whether-or-not-I-should-kill-you' kind of way.
"What are you doing here?" Clarisse demands, which seems to me like an unnecessarily rude question to ask someone who can destroy you in the millisecond it takes you to blink.
Thankfully, the god doesn't blow up at us. "Saving your lives," he answers calmly, finally looking away from me.
"But why?" Clarisse asks. I shoot her a 'Shut up!' glare, wishing she was standing next to me so I could step on her foot. The daughter of Ares ignores me and continues, "I thought gods weren't supposed to get involved in quests."
"That is true," he acknowledges. "And normally I would not dare to risk Zeus' wrath by rescuing a demigod. However, you girls have done me a great service, and therefore I was permitted to repay you by interfering just this once."
A great service? Clarisse and I glance at each other, startled. I don't remember doing any great service for him.
Reminding myself that I have to be careful with my words, I respond, "Well, um, we're still very grateful that you saved us, my lord, though of course we didn't do that great service for you just so you would owe us a favour. …Uh, by the way, what exactly was that great service we did for you?"
Clarisse face-palms. Guess that wasn't the smartest thing to say. Oops.
Instead of looking angry, however, Poseidon looks deeply amused. "I am referring to the sea monster you destroyed in Louisiana. For several months it plagued my kingdom, terrorizing my subjects. I was always too busy to take care of it. Now at last it is gone and my subjects are free from it."
Clarisse's face lights up in understanding. "Oh, you mean the Kraken!"
"Ketos," I correct her.
Poseidon stares at us for a few seconds. Then, before our shocked eyes, he bursts out laughing. "You thought that miniscule creature was the Ketos?"
"Miniscule? That monster was freaking huge!" I protest.
Still chortling, the Sea God replies, "Compared to the Ketos, it isn't. The real thing is as tall as a skyscraper. If you were to face it, you would be dead within seconds."
Offended, Clarisse challenges, "Then what was that thing we faced, if it wasn't the Kraken?"
Percy's father shrugs his shoulders. "Probably one of its offspring. The point is that the monster was a danger to my people, and you got rid of it. Therefore, I was indebted to you, and I saw fit to come to your aid when the Oneiroi attacked you."
Her anger subsiding, Clarisse nods. Then she pales when I say, "Lord Poseidon, about the Oneiroi… Are the visions they showed us real? Will they come true?"
"That depends," Poseidon answers, "on which gate the Oneiroi came through." He jerks his head towards the plaque between the two gates and, filling in the blotted parts, recites:
"Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn;
Of polished ivory this, that of transparent horn:
True visions through transparent horn arise;
Through polished ivory pass deluding lies."
"I knew it!" The words nearly explode out of Clarisse's mouth. She turns to me triumphantly. "I told you the ivory gate was the wrong one!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I mutter.
"Those lines are from Virgil's Aeneid," Poseidon explains. "Aeneas, son of Ve–" He abruptly cuts off before continuing: "The son of Aphrodite encountered the two gates on his journey to found Rome. The Oneiroi are the physical representation of dreams. They are sons of Hypnos, and they dwell beyond these gates." His face darkens as he adds, "Supposedly only Morpheus, god of dreams, can open the gates and release them."
"So either Morpheus wants us dead–" Clarisse starts.
"–or someone else is controlling the gates," I finish the thought.
"I fear it is worse than that," Poseidon says grimly. "I fear that Morpheus is indeed controlling the gates, but my father is controlling him. Or still worse, he has turned his back on the Olympians and is willingly working for the Titan lord." Then he relaxes a little and says in a hopeful tone, "Though as you said, girl, Morpheus might simply have a grudge against the two of you and want you both dead."
Wonderful. That makes me feel so much better. Though I have to admit, I'd rather have Morpheus after me than Kronos.
"Right," I say. Then, remembering the way the Sea God was frowning at me earlier, I decide it's time for us to leave and conclude, "So, uh, thanks for the mythology lesson. And for saving our lives. We'll just be on our way."
Tightening his grip on his trident, he says, "Not yet, you won't. I have a question for you."
"A question, my lord?" I squeak out, instantly made nervous by the sudden change in his demeanor.
Smiling in a decidedly cold manner, the Sea God says, "Yes, a question. The Fates have recently informed me that someone has been interfering with my son's fate. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"Please," Clarisse scoffs, "Dess doesn't have the brains or the power to mess with anyone's fate. You're wasting your time by accusing her."
I want to agree with her. I haven't been messing with anyone's fate.
Except that that's not entirely true. I'm going along with Apollo's plan to defy the Great Prophecy, aren't I? And if something happens to Thalia, Percy might be the child of the prophecy, meaning that by defying it I'm interfering with his fate.
The silence stretches on as I stand there, frozen. If I tell the god I don't know what he's talking about, will he know I'm lying and turn me into a fish? But if I tell him the truth, won't he be even angrier?
Poseidon narrows his eyes at me and hisses, "I might have saved you from the Oneiroi, girl, but I will not hesitate to kill you if you continue to endanger my son's life. My friendship with your father will not save you. And pass this message on to Apollo– our friendship will not save him. I do not know what he is planning, but he will face my wrath if he brings harm to my son in any way, however indirectly."
He starts to glow and I automatically turn away. When I look back, he's gone.
For what must be the hundredth time, Clarisse asks, "What the hell was that about?"
It's been approximately fifteen minutes since the Sea God disappeared, and we've spent that time getting as far away from the gates and the Oneiroi as possible. Now we're walking along a random tunnel and, as usual, we have no idea where we're going. On top of this, Clarisse has been badgering me the whole while and it's driving me crazy. She just won'tshut up.
"I've already told you," I explain through gritted teeth, "that I can't tell you."
Unfazed by my obvious irritation, she plows on with her questioning: "Why does he think you messed with Prissy's fate? Why didn't you defend yourself? Why did he mention Apollo?"
If I had a pillow right now, I would be screaming into it. Or possibly using it to suffocate Clarisse.
"For the hundredth freaking time, Clarisse, I can't tell you! Gods, you are so annoying! I can't believe I actually felt guilty for trying to leave you with the Oneiroi!" The words burst out of my mouth before I can think them through.
Clarisse stops dead in her tracks. Mentally cringing, I do the same.
"What," she begins, her voice low and deadly, "did you just say?"
"Um, I said that you're, uh, annoying?" Probably not the best thing to say, but better than telling her I was going to leave her to die at the hands of the Oneiroi.
"No," she snarls, "the other part. The part about how you were going to abandon me and leave me to die."
"Oh, that part! That was just a joke! April Fools!" That's what I would say to her if I was suicidal. But I'm not, so instead I keep silent.
"Oh my gods," she says. She lets out an incredulous yet bitter laugh. "You were actually going to leave me there. After all those times I stood by you, after all those time I saved your life despite the fact that I was putting my own in danger, you were going to leave me there."
Tears prickle in the corners of my eyes. Guilt surges through me. Because she doesn't just look angry. She looks hurt.
I remember when we were in the Hephaestus tunnels practically a lifetime ago. I remember how Clarisse told me that I was one of her best friends.
Now I know – and she does too – that I don't even qualify as her friend, let alone one of her best. A real friend wouldn't do what I nearly did to her.
"I'm sorry, Clarisse," I whisper, a tear sliding down my cheek.
She walks away. I follow, but no matter how many times I try to apologize, she just ignores me and keeps walking.
Three hours later the only thing she's said to me is: "I'm hungry. Where's the food?" I saved her from walking right into a pit of spikes a while ago, but of course she's still mad, and I don't blame her. So I'm feeling pretty miserable by the time we reach the fork in the road that looks like a capital T.
I stop sulking the second I hear a strange squealing sound coming from the left path. Knowing that a monster is probably headed toward us we both draw our weapons, just as an automated boar with giant metal tusks comes hurtling around the corner. It screeches to a halt a few metres away from us.
Clarisse immediately charges it, and after a moment's hesitation I follow her lead. I try to cut off its tusks while Clarisse jabs at its side with her spear. Both our weapons bounce off the boar harmlessly.
I swear under my breath and back up as the boar tries to dig his tusks into my right arm. I've already got a scar there from that giant eagle that attacked me a few months ago. I don't want another one.
Clarisse sets her jaw and tries to stab it again with the same results. She charges it again and again and again, each time seeming to more and more power into her blows. Nothing happens. Meanwhile, I've been doing my best to guard her while trying to figure out a way to kill it.
Desperate, I shout to Clarisse, "Isn't the boar your father's sacred animal? Can't you tell it go away or something?"
"This isn't a real boar," she snaps back, trying to impale the creature's backside. "It's an automaton. That's your father's domain, not mine. Maybe you should tell it to back off– unless you'd rather run away and leave me to deal with it on my own."
Wincing slightly at the last part, I decide that I might as well try talking to the boar, though I make sure to get behind it before I speak: "Uh, hey, Mr. Automated Boar. Could you maybe stop attacking us? I mean, I guess we technically attacked you first, but anyways… I'm sure your creator would be grateful if you refrained from killing me and Clarisse. I'm a daughter of Hephaestus, you see. Isn't that great?"
At the sound of the fire god's name, the boar wheels around to face me. At first I think my speech has worked. Then the boar starts squealing angrily and pounding the ground with its hooves like it's about to launch itself at me. Which is exactly what it does. Of course.
I scream and dive out of the way, landing on my left shoulder. Ow. Ow. Ow. As the boar thunders passed me, I notice that there's a big red button on its belly. Ignoring my injured shoulder, I wait for the boar to turn around and charge at me again. When it does, I roll out of the way and then reach under it to press the big red button.
A perky, generic voice – like the ones you hear on the phone claiming that you've won an all-expense paid vacation to Disneyland or whatever – announces: "Self-destruct sequence activated. Sixty seconds to detonation. Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…"
"What the hell did you do?" Clarisse screams at me. Meanwhile, the boar is squealing in panic and bashing its head into the wall like as though it thinks that will make the countdown stop. Pebbles rain down on its head.
"I don't know! I just pushed the big red button!" I whimper.
"Oh my gods, Dess, don't you know that you should never press the big red button because it always means something will explode?" she groans, exasperated.
"Forty-six, forty-five, forty-four," the cheery voice continues.
"Dess, you got us into this mess. Now get us out," Clarisse demands.
"I– Oh, all right, fine! I'll try. But you have to help me," I say.
"Whatever," she mutters.
We both run to the boar that's still bashing its head into the wall and crouch down on either side of it. The left path of the 'T' is right behind me and I'm a little nervous that some other monster is going to come speeding down the corridor and attack us. But for now I suppose the imminent explosion is the more urgent matter.
Being this close to the metal boar, the announcer's voice is so loud that my head starts pounding. "Thirty-two, thirty-one, thirty…"
Clarisse grabs the boar in a headlock to keep it still. Grimacing, I duck my head under the boar and turn my attention to where the big red button used to be. I guess when I pressed it it vanished, revealing the inside of the boar. I tinker with the wires, trying to not to do anything that would probably either speed up the self-destruct sequence or detonate the automaton instantly.
"Twenty-one, twenty, nineteen…"
I push myself out from under the boar and shake my head at Clarisse, defeated. "I've never seen machinery like this. This boar wasn't made by my father. Someone else made it. And whoever they are, from the looks of it they're even better than him at forging automatons." This thought troubles me for a second, and then I'm over it. "But never mind that now. This thing is going to blow any second. Let's get out of here while we can."
The brunette daughter of Ares considers this option for a moment. She releases the boar. Then she grins a creepy, crazy-looking grin and says, "We tried your way of stopping the countdown. Now let's try my way." She reaches a hand underneath the boar and into the hole with all the wiring. When she withdraws it, she's grasping a handful of wires.
The countdown abruptly stops. Clarisse is looking all pleased with herself until the perky voice announces: "Systems damaged. Initiate detonation in five, four–"
Terror seizes me and I do the only think that makes sense: I scramble down the left path as fast as I can, trying to get as far away from the boar as possible. I glance over my shoulder just as the announcer chirps "One!" and am relieved to see that Clarisse is also running away from the boar– in the opposite direction as me, true, but that's better than sticking around for the explosion.
And speaking of explosions… I shield my eyes and hit the ground. The poor automated boar squeals its final squeal as it's blown apart. A small piece of metal ricochets off my leg, but that's the only thing that hits me. Knowing that the explosion is over, I sit up and open my eyes. As I glance around I note that most of the rubble landed just short of my body. When I shift my gaze to where I last saw Clarisse, I see that she's fine and already getting back on her feet. I do the same, then grab one of my knapsack's straps and sling it over my uninjured shoulder. It's a miracle that I managed to hold on to my bag through that entire ordeal.
As I make my way over to Clarisse, carefully avoiding stepping on any of the sharp bits of metal that litter the floor, the ceiling starts to rumble and the ground shakes violently.
Oh no. Oh no. Do the Fates hate us or something? I mean really. After everything that just happened, now the ceiling is caving in?
Desperate, I gauge the distance between myself and Clarisse. Can I make it in time? Am I fast enough? A boulder comes loose and crashes to the ground. That would be a 'no' to both questions, then.
I back up until I think I'll be safe from the falling debris. And then I watch as the ceiling completely falls apart.
Ten minutes later, I stop shifting rocks and admit to myself that I'm never going to be able to make a path to Clarisse's corridor that's big enough for me to fit through.
"Any luck?" Clarisse shouts from her side.
"None," I yell back miserably. "This is impossible! Every time I move a rock out of the way another takes its place."
"Listen, Dess, I think we're going to have to separate! You keep going down that tunnel, and I'll continue along this one. Maybe they'll come together eventually."
Shit. We can't separate. I wouldn't last five minutes without her!
A small, annoying voice in my head says dryly, Don't have much choice, do you?
Damn it. Stupid voice in my head is right.
Seeing no other option, I shout back my agreement with her plan. I wish there was a way to give her some of the food in my bag, seeing as I've been carrying it all and she doesn't have any. I hope she doesn't starve.
"Right, well… Bye then, I guess," I call to her.
"Wait, Dess…" I perk up slightly. Maybe she's going to tell me that she forgives me for nearly leaving her to die. "These paths might not join up at all. So our main goal should be to find Daedalus' mark and head back to Camp. We need to report everything back to Chiron. So don't waste time looking for me, all right? And if you make it back and I don't, tell Chiron not to send anyone in after me, okay?"
My stomach drops. "Are you freaking kidding me? You would want us to just leave you down here? You'd die!"
"That didn't stop you before. Bye, Dess." I hear the sound of her footsteps retreating.
Geez, she knows how to guilt-trip people. But I don't have time to feel guilty. Clarisse is right. Getting the info about Daedalus back to Chiron is the most important thing right now. And, you know, surviving would be great too.
Taking a deep breath, I start down the corridor, wondering why the Labyrinth seems so much darker when I'm walking alone.
What feels like three days later, I am miraculously not dead. Can you believe that? I lasted a whole three days on my own! Three!
Granted, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going and I jump a good five feet in the air every time I hear even the smallest of noises, but still. I'm alive. That's always a good start.
I round a corner and scan the walls and ceiling for a Greek delta. Nothing. Damn it. Am I ever going to get out of here? And if I do find a way out, where will I end up? What if I end up in like, Antarctica or Australia or something? Or Mexico? Or China? Or Brazil or Egypt or France? What if I end up in the North Pole at Santa's Workshop? Do elves speak English? That's the only language I know! How am I supposed to get back to Camp if I can't communicate with the elves?
Okay, calm down. Chiron said that the Labyrinth probably only exists under America, remember?
Oh. Right. That's true. Thank you, voice in my head.
…Wait a minute. What if I end up in Alaska? That's part of America!
I stand there for several minutes in a frenzy of panic. My nerves are totally fried from three days of wandering alone in an underground maze, so when I feel a hand on my shoulder I scream hysterically, close my eyes and whirl around, lashing out at whoever the person is.
"Whoa, Dess, calm down, it's just me!"
My eyes snap open and stare, stunned, into the face of my ex-boyfriend.
Author's Note: So. Poseidon was completely OOC, but in my defense he's concerned for his only mortal son. Is Tyson mortal? Well, his only demigod son, at least.
I made up the part about Morpheus controlling the two gates. There's nothing about that in the myths according to Wikipedia, but I thought it was fitting considering he's the god of dreams.
Reviews are appreciated.